Pump



H. E. LA BOUR PUMP Fild March Patented June 26, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY E. LA BOUR, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

citizen of the United States, residin PUMP.

Appligation filed when 7, 1921.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HARRY E. LA Boon, a atChicago, in the county of Cook" and tate of Illinois, have invented acertain new anduseful Improvement in Pumps, of which the following is afull, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to pumps, more particularly to centrifugal pumps.

In centrifugal pumpsit is desirable to have a pump which does not becomeair bound, and it is furthermore desirable to have as little end thruston the shaft of the pump as possible.

A further desideratum is high efliciency and the ability to deliver arelatively high pressure.

My. invention accomplishes the above desired functions in a simple andeflective manner, and in addition I have found that the pump, so long asit has a li uid seal, is able to exert suflicient suction w en runningwith air in the pump casing to raise .water a height of five or sixfeet.

Further and more specific advantages of my invention will be-advancedfrom the following detailed description.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate an embodiment of myinvention:

Figure 1 is a vertical cross sectional view of a pump embodying myinvention Figure 2 is an elevational front view of the runner and rearplate, with the front plate removed;

igure 3 is a side elevational view of a pump and motor on a common base;and,

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional view of a modification.

The pump of my invention is free of end thrust on the shaft 1, andconsequently no end thrust bearing is necessary, the pump shaft 1 beingconnected directly to the motor shaft, and the pump and motor beingmounted upon a common base, in line with each other.

. The pump 3 isma'Jde up'as shown in Figures 1 and 2, of two parts,namely, a front late 5, and a back plate 6, in which is housed therunner 7. I

The casing formed of these two parts 7 provides an outlet 8 at the upperend, sur- Serial No. 450,849.

flange is adapted to be connected to a delivery pipe for the pump.

The two parts of the casing 5 and 6 have flanges 10 and 11 for boltingtogether the two parts of the casing in a well known manner. The rearplate 6 provides the packing gland 13, which may be of any preferred orsuitable character. At the lower portion of the plate 6 a foot member 14is provided for mounting the pump, this foot member being in the form ofa plate disposed at right angles to the main portion of the plate 6, andbeing connected by a reenforcing web 15, which is disposed on the backside of the back plate 6. In a similar manner, aflange 16 hes above thestufling box 13, and connects the stufling box with the back plate 6.

The front plate is provided with an inlet opening 17 having a boltingflange 18 about the same, for attachment to a suitable intake pipe.

Between the plates 5 and 6 I provide a cylindrical peripheral space 20communicating with the outlet 8 through a flared discharge passage 21,which is most clearly illustrated in Figure 2 The eripheral space 20provides a runway for t e ends of the blades of the impeller 7, thisimpeller having. as shown in the present case, four arms, the ends ofwhich approach relatively close to the cylindrical surface of the space20, roviding only sufficient clearance to avoid rubbing against thecylindrical wall. This permits of a maximum length of impeller in agiven size of pump casing. The

flaring passageway 21 opens into the space I I Between the intakeopening 17 and the peripheral space 20, I provide a conical pocket orintake passa eway 23, which permits the liquid to attain a substantiallyradial direction before engaging the arms of i the impellers 7. Thisconical space 23 is not occupied by any part of the impeller, hence theincoming liquid is free to distribute itself freely through this space,and to lower its speed as compared with its speed on entering the openin17. In the conical. space 23 it is possib e to dispose a screen, asindicated at 27' in dotted lines in Figure, 1. This screen may be castintegral with the plate 5. The increased area pro ided by the diver ingintake passageway 3 makes it possib e to dispose the screen thereinwithout restricting the flow.

There is no end thrust on the shaft 1, the incoming liquid apparentlytaking a radial course before it strikes the impeller. The

; impeller is provided with blades of the s'ame width throughout theirlength, although I any pump with which assume that this feature is notabsolutely essential. However, the ends of the impeller arms 22 aresubstantially flat and straight, and fit fairly close to the side fiwalls of the casings 5 and 6 where the space 20 is defined. In orderto'assist the dividing of the fluid radially, I provide in a'modifiedform the directing cone 25, as shown in Fig ure 4, for leading theliquid radially to the ends of the impeller blade. This cone issupported by a number of arms 26, which may be cast integral with thecone 25 andpumpingpccursmainly at the-upper half of H the adjacent partof the casing 5.

. I am unable to explain accurately the precise action which occursinside the pump, but I am able to state; as a result of a number of eirperiments that the ously constructed or found on the market. I findthat the efliciencly is higher than in am familiar. The pressure headwhich I am able toobtain with a given expenditure of power and a givenrate of flow in a given size of pump, is igher with the resent pump thanany' with which I am amiliar. The pump does not become air bound uponthe entry of air I into the pump casing, and, as I have previouslyindicated, the pump will exert a suc tion even with air entering thecasing.

What I assume from my experiments that occurs is the following: Liquidenters the opening 17 and spreads out throughout the conical space 23,assuming a relatively lowerward by centrifugal gravity,'is then thrownout at the flaring discharge passageway 21 by the centrifugal forcewhich it' has attained through the motion of the im' ller arms and movesout through the disc arge opening 8. At the same time, the incomingliquid tends to refill the pocket, and perhaps a portion of the incomingliquid tends to follow the discharge liquid out through the dischargepassageway 21 bein drawn outward by the velocity of the. ischarged orimpelled liquid to carry with it a portion of theliquid directly fromthe intake passagewa 23. The pocket is again filled or partia ly filledwith liquid taken from the intake passageway 23, so that the real actionof the pump. l

I am unable to sa whether what I assume to occur does actua ly happen ornot. 7

f I do not intend to be limited to the preicise details shown anddescribed.

, present! form of pump gives me greater efliciency than any form whichI have previ- I claim: A centrifugal pump having, in combination, ri idblades defining a whirlin space bounded by parallel plane-s, an axiainlet and a radial outlet opening directly into said space, said outlethaving sides flaring into tangency with said space and subtendm an arcof the periphery substantially equa to the are between the tips ofadjacent blades.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 5th day of March,1921.

- HARRY E. LA BOUB.

